Monday, May 13, 2013

Is ambition making you miserable?

A guest post by Kelly Opferman (further information below) to open up discussion on an interesting topic.

There
have been some interesting discussions recently about the role that ambition
plays in our overall feeling of happiness, including one piece in The
Atlantic.
The question is whether or not your reaching for career success undermines your
sense of happiness and your overall well-being. There has not been a conclusive
answer to the question, but the consensus seems to be that is indeed a
trade-off that you make when you shift your focus to your career and other
accomplishments.

Here
are a few reasons why too much ambition may be undermining your happiness and
maybe even making you miserable:

Comes at the Cost of Relationships

The
primary reason why your ambition could by making you unhappy is that it comes
at the cost of your relationships. Tim Kasser, the author of the book The High Price of Materialism, argues
that the pursuit of money, possessions and social status creates distress and
lowers well-being, primarily because of the damage that such pursuits inflict
on relationships.

Researchers John Helliwell and Robert Putnam found in a 2004
study that marriage, family, social ties, civic engagement and working
relationships all had a significant impact on happiness.

If
it is our relationships that make us happy, then neglecting these in the
pursuit of our ambition can cause us to become profoundly unhappy.

Leads to Loneliness

Conventional
wisdom says it's lonely at the top. That's because you don't have time for
relationships when you are putting in the long hours to achieve your goals or
try to gain prominence in your workplace. Even if you manage to maintain
relationships while pursuing your ambition, you likely won't have the time that
you would like to spend with those people and to enrich your relationships.

As
a result, you will have achieved great successes, but it will likely feel
empty. You may feel happiness at having accomplished something great, but the
victory will feel hollow when you don't have those strong personal connections
to form the foundation for a happy life.

Creates a Lot of Stress

Working
long hours without making time for family and friends can lead to unhealthy
levels of stress, which can bring down your mood and put you at risk for a
number of health problems. A new study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that ambition is negatively
associated with longevity -- meaning that ambitious people are likely to live
shorter lives. Ongoing high levels of stress can lead to depression, sleep
problems, and a number of other chronic health conditions. Not only can it
reduce your overall feelings of happiness, but it can also shorten your life
span.

The
researchers in the Journal of Applied
Psychology said that more research is needed to determine the real link
between ambition and happiness. However, the research that has already been
done shows that there is reason to believe that the more ambitious you are, the
less happy you are likely to be.

What
are your thoughts? Do you think that ambition can make you miserable? Share
your thoughts in the comments!

The
Author:

Kelly
Opferman is a seasoned writer who at this time focuses on her site at: http://www.autoloancalculator.org. Her educational
background includes finance, teaching, and economics.

Postscript by Winton

I have now had an opportunity to read a version of the article
in the Journal of Applied Psychology,
that Kelly refers to. The overall findings
in the article, by Timothy Judge and John Kammeyer-Mueller, suggest that the
effects of ambition are generally favourable for the individuals who have it.
The qualification about longevity seems to me to be more about inconclusive
results than evidence of a negative relationship. The authors found that
ambition is positively related to educational attainment, incomes and
satisfaction with life.

The study seems to be soundly based. Data are from the Terman
life cycle study in the US, involving a sample of 717 individuals followed over
seven decades. The most important qualification about the sample is that subjects
were chosen for inclusion in the Terman study because they were assessed to
have high ability.

The definition of ambition used by the authors is
‘persistent and generalized striving for success, attainment and
accomplishment’. It is measured by a combination of self-assessment and
parental assessment of whether the individual has ‘a definite purpose in life’
and whether ambition is listed among the individual’s most favourable qualities
or lack of ambition is listed among the individual’s most serious faults.

In their suggestions for further research, the authors
acknowledge that the effects of ambition may depend on the goals that are
sought. For example, other research suggests that people who seek fame or
wealth for the pleasure they imagine that it will bring them, are less likely
to have happy lives than those who have nobler ambitions.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

My own ambition has been for many years to be the most inconsequential, unremarkable, nondescript member of our Dear Leader's workforce.

I agree with the author that this ambition has made me less happy than I might otherwise have dreamed of, but then it must be said that I at least now have a bed of sorts, and one regular meal a day - some days. Except not in winter.

But I would be most remiss if I didn't pass on my thanks for the most succinct example I've yet come upon of that phrase 'first world problem'.

Hi kvd, Your comment reminded me of Adam Smith's parable of the poor man's son whom heaven in its anger had visited with ambition. It is people like you and the unfortunate poor man's son who keep in continual motion the industry of mankind.

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